The prognosis and approriate treatment are very much dependent on stage.
There isn't enough info here to even hazard a guess

Hello and welcome.

I'm afraid I don't know much about Russia.
How long have you known her?

I'm just typing random thoughts, in case this helps with your decision.

I was just reading about warty growths
http://www.cancerbacup.org.uk/Cancertype/Bladder
under "type" . A friend's father has had that for several or more years. She says
they "lasered" them off.
(I think she means "cauterized")
I think she said something about the stem(s) being left behind. He's 70 and has
Alzheimer's.
He's had the procedure several times during the past few years.  Then it was
recently discovered that he had a reoccurence.
They were going to remove the whole bladder but only removed half, the half that
had a large tumour in it. Then they injected something into his remaining half of
the bladder.
He's a bit ticked. He thought it might have been better to remove it all. (so I'm
assuming that he's tired of the the procedures, the tests, the hospital stays.
That's his story, so far.

The urology channel doesn't seem to have as much info but mentions "reoccurances"
so I can see why we might think that it's nuisance and costly. (In Canada where
the gent is, it's covered by our health insurance, but immigration probably
wouldn't let someone in, I would think, of your fiancee's age, having had 2
cancers.. Would cost the system too much.

Also, it doesn't seem to bode well when someone so young has already had two
cancers.  Cancer is an aging disease, so one wonders if she survives this, what
next? Later, as she ages...

I hear and read that the survival rate of most marriages today is 50% and half
that for long-distance relationships (mail/phone internet). Have you met and
spent some time together?  I always wonder how one can create a true relationship
without at least having met, several times, before making such a commitment.
Makes me wonder why people pick partners from some other countries, when there's
such a "supply" in your own country.  Why for her, is probably more obvious. But
I think you have some very good points. For instance, how do you know she's not
coming here for healthcare, along with possibly marrying you. And later, whether
planned or not, will get homesick and return to the Russia?

You might want to ask her to fax you a diagnosis letter written by her doctor and
the pathology report, so you get the details of the bladder cancer.  If she asks
why, you might want to say that you have to start inquiring about health
insurance rates in regards to pre-existing conditions, which is something you
might want to do anyway.

Back to the diagnosis letter and pathology report; you would then have to find a
cancer doctor who speaks and reads Russian fluently (and I presume for a fee) get
him to sort out what her diagnosis is.  Since she doesn't speak "details" (I
presume she has a grasp of common chat), that would give you a view as to what
your life might be like together for at least 3 or 4 years while she gets some
English as a second language education. Not to mention, where is she going to
work, if she has difficulty with the language?  I would think that you would have
to be her translator and carry most of the burden (financial, timewise running
errands, taking care of household affairs) in the interim.

I don't know what to do if she refuses and/or cannot get the papers.

Just random thoughts and maybe an idea of how to get the details...
Let us know what you find out.
Best,
J

Hi Jeff ...

Lots of Vietnam Vets died of bladder cancer ... agent orange pissing through
their system ... takes about 6 months from Dx to the grave.

agent orange has killed 70% of the oceans ... no plankton around these day
...

anyhow ... bladder cancer goes real quick ... don't expect her to live much
longer ... with cutpoisonburn being the soup de jour of modern medicine ...
as well as the causality agent to cancer in general ... radiation and rocket
fuel.

enjoy what time you have with her ...

sorry for the bad news ...

my heart goes out to you and to her ...

for your current and future pain you will have to live through ...

but always remember the big picture ...

Support Our Troops ... Win the War on Terror ... Bush is Right ...

sumbuddie said dis

in article
JEFFERYBROWN-1203051632400001@cblmdm63-166-35-84.buckeye-express.com,
Jeffery D. Brown at JEFFERYBROWN@BUCKEYE-EXPRESS.COM wrote on 3/12/05 1:32
PM:

Your facts and history of this cancer are too  sketchy for anyone to assure
you of the probable final outcome.
Bladder cancer is not necessarily fatal if recommendations for treatment are
followed.  It helps if the cancer has not broken through the bladder wall
into other obdominal areas.

For example:  a niece of mine had bladder cancer that was surgically
resolved.  Her bladder was removed and a section of her colon was used as a
replacement bladder.
She does have to do a self urinary catheterization several times a day, but
she is fine.
She did not need any chemo or radiation.  She is not young - about 74 years
of age.

Hope this helps some.

eveline